To a large portion of casual theatergoers, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov can be a difficult sell. Such apathy isn’t generally based on a failure to recognize the playwright’s importance. Any college freshman with an Intro to Theater credit can essay on Chekhov’s significance. Far more daunting than merely appreciating Chekov, however, is actually enjoying his work. This challenge is due to a perceived bleakness in his plays, the sense that existence is an inherently tedious routine more commonly suffered than enjoyed. But while this bias has some basis, such a surface reading fails to recognize the intimate humor and compassionate heart that drives Chekhovian works. Irrefutable evidence of such emotional vigor can be found in the Gremlin Theatre’s new production of Uncle Vanya, a revitalization sure to dash misperceptions of stagnate gloominess.
Centered on a modest family estate in rural Russia during the waning summer days of 1899, Uncle Vanya brings together an assortment of characters straining under repressed resentments, impossible desires, and bitter class conflicts. Until that summer the management of the estate had fallen to Uncle Vanya and his unmarried niece, Sonya. Through years of monotonous toil, Vanya and Sonya maintained the estate while sacrificing the meager profits to support Sonya’s father, Alexander Serebryakov, a retired university professor living in the city with his much younger second wife, Elena. Even with few creature comforts, Vanya and Sonya seldom questioned their duties until their routine is interrupted by the arrival of Alexander and Elena, come to the country in hopes of curing Alexander’s failing health. The tensions aroused by the couple’s presence, further exasperated by the attentions of the local doctor, threaten to render the carefully calibrated lives into complete disarray.
In terms of storyline, Uncle Vanya resembles a uniquely pastoral soap opera, filled with familial rancor and hidden romantic longings, but bereft of any glamorous seductions. A more profound distinction can be found in Chekhov’s complex characters and charged dialogue, each interaction drawing out the fraught dynamics of this fragile family. Director Janice Stone puts the figures into motion with a consistent pace that admittedly does accumulate some languidness as the work moves into its second half. Thankfully the cast pick up the slack with performances that reverberate with emotional nuance.
Craig Johnson is remarkable as the central figure, charismatically expressing Vanya’s disillusion through sarcastic swipes at everything in his path. Voicing his dialogue with informal naturalism, Johnson is utterly compelling in the role, especially as Vanya reveals more of his tortured soul. By the play’s confessional resolution, Johnson has done nothing short of exposing the exacting pain of a life examined too late for change.
As Elena, Alexander’s beautiful young wife, Stephanie Cousins manages to evoke sympathy for her professed unhappiness, despite her complicity in the sadness. Removed from the pleasures of the city, Elena considers the diversion of an affair with Mihail Astrov, the educated country doctor with a passion for ecological preservation. Playing to Mihail’s contradictory nature, Carl Schoenborn projects a man of commendable potential, but given to indulgences and self-pity. And Mo Perry, as the destined spinster Sonya, devastatingly conveys the acute sorrow of unrequited love and acceptance of a solitary future with heartrending resignation.
Despite a smattering of vocal flubs, the remaining cast maintains the high standard, especially David Rinzema who underscores Alexander Serebryakov’s maddening pomposity without reducing the role to caricature. Enhancing the play’s quirky humor are well-turned performances by Mary Kay Fortier-Spalding (as Vanya’s irascible mother), Marlin L. Roth (as a plaintive former landowner), and Joan Lisi-McCoy (as the family’s venerable old nurse).
Further illustrating the myriad inner conflicts is a discerning costume design by A. Emily Heaney which subtly conveys the rifts between characters, particularly in contrasting Sonya’s drab attire against Elena’s fashionable flourishes. The lavish costuming of the latter also provides a suggestive clash with the humble environs established by Tamatha Miller’s set design.
Insightfully perceptive and emotionally involving, Gremlin Theatre’s production of Uncle Vanya should be required viewing for anyone inclined to shrug off Chekhov as a dramatic chore. Though the work eschews romantic notions, the sincerity of unvarnished emotion only proves the more poignant.
Uncle Vanya runs at the Gremlin Theatre through April 23rd.
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